A society in which there is a common vision and sense of belonging by all communities; in which the diversity of people’s backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and valued; in which similar life opportunities are available to all, and in which strong and positive relationships exist and continue to be developed.

 

 

We should know the social/economic/religious/ethnic mix of our school, our local, national and global communities, and have a strategy to improve the knowledge and understanding of what is shared in common as well as celebrating what is different. In particular, we should promote through Teaching and Learning and our curriculum, an ethos of equity, engagement and excellence for all.

 

 

 

· Attainment and other outcomes are monitored by socio-economic group and ethnicity. Currently there is little evidence of any underachievement, although low numbers in ethnic groups make it hard to establish any significant trends.

· Staff have been made aware of the impact that poverty and class have on attainment and exam classes in particular are monitored to ensure vulnerable students are given appropriate support.

· The successful House system means that the school is a strongly cohesive community, with students of all ages, abilities and backgrounds working together on various projects and competitions throughout the year.

· We mark the major Christian, Muslim and Hindu festivals, and Chinese New Year, through the weekly newsletter, assemblies and occasionally in other ways e.g special food in the canteen. We also mark Holocaust Day every year.

· Students’ home cultures are celebrated through annual events such as Languages Day and Black History Week.

· Schemes of work throughout the school, but particularly in Art, Music, Dance, Geography and RE, aim to widen knowledge and appreciation of other faiths and cultures.

· Students from economically deprived backgrounds are given free or heavily subsidised tuition if they wish to learn a musical instrument.

 

 

 

· Through our specialism, we have built strong links with local schools, especially our nearest primary and special schools. Every other year, we organise and host the Dacorum Dance and Drama Festival where between 5 and 9 local schools come to perform and celebrate together.

· We work with The Box Moor Trust and Dacorum Borough Council to put on ‘Music on the Moor’ every other year. This is an open air two-day music festival which is provided free of charge to the local community and which attracts up to 20000 people. The festival always provides an opportunity to learn about and celebrate music from other cultures e.g last year there were free workshops on samba and on Indian Djoli drums.

· Every year we work with Dacorum Learning Partnership to organise and host the Dacorum Multicultural evening. This is a celebration of the cultures of our town and area in an evening of performances, workshops and food.

· Many departments in the school build strong links with partners and people in the local community, notably the PE Department through the work of Fiona Fraser, and the History Department, who last year held the very successful ‘Hemel at War’ project.

· We let out space to, and on some occasions subsidise, numerous local clubs and organisations, including Dacorum Chinese School, Dacorum Music School, Dacorum Drum Majorettes, etc.

 

 

· Some subjects automatically include consideration of national and global issues as part of their regular teaching, notably the Modern Foreign Languages, Citizenship, Geography and Politics departments. However, the number and range of trips run by the school (e.g the Science Department’s trip to Honduras) significantly adds to our students’ global awareness.

· The main focus of our students’ global awareness, however, is our link with Mgezwa Junior Secondary School in rural South Africa. Our students have worked alongside their Mgezwa fellows on projects in a range of subjects e.g. Science, Music, Maths, History and Drama. This has really promoted their understanding of what is shared in common as well as appreciating the differences. Some of our students are currently fundraising hard to join Mgezwa students in performing at the South African National Arts Festival in 2011.

 

 

· Include religious background in the monitoring of our students.

· Improve our contact with hard-to-reach parents/carers

· Make more use of Student Voice to monitor the impact of our actions for ethnic minorities and vulnerable groups within the school

· Develop a better understanding of the socio-economic/ethnic/religious profile of our community, particularly the wider town.

· Bring our students into regular contact with students from a much more ethnically mixed Hertfordshire school and do events together to enable both groups of students to gain a wider understanding of the whole UK community.

· Collapse the timetable for a day every year to enable students to do cross-curricular projects that promote understanding of their community and the world.